sensuality

[ sen-shoo-al-i-tee ]

noun

, plural sen·su·al·i·ties.

1. sensual nature:

   the sensuality of Keats's poetry.

2. unrestrained indulgence in sensual pleasures.
3. lewdness; unchastity.

sensuality

/ ˈsɛnsjʊəlɪst; ˌsɛnsjʊˈælɪtɪ /

noun

1. the quality or state of being sensual
2. excessive indulgence in sensual pleasures

Derived Forms

• sensualist, noun

Other Words From

• anti·sensu·ali·ty noun plural antisensualities adjective
• hyper·sensu·ali·ty noun
• nonsen·su·ali·ty noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of sensuality¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English sensualite, from Old French, from Late Latin sēnsuālitās; equivalent to sensual + -ity

Example Sentences

Game of Thrones proved that combining sensuality with fantasy is a compelling draw.

From Time

Whatever Rodin’s original vision, the resulting erotism of the piece, its powerful sensuality, is what makes it so captivating.

From The Daily Beast

Her role as the Aes Sedai chiefess, too, is underwritten, but the actress radiates warmth heated by sensuality and tempered by practicality, exuding a sense of a life lived.

From Washington Post

We meet Linda—played as a beautiful mess of innocence, impulsivity and sensuality by Lily James—in a flash-forward that successfully distances the miniseries from any connotation of stiffness we might associate with British period dramas.

From Time

On the surface, it lyrically encompassed sexuality and sensuality in an intriguing manner.

From Essence.com

The premise comes and goes, however, and even the rest of “Clouds” focuses more on sensuality than sci-fi.

From The Daily Beast

His photographs major on legs, lips, sensuality of the female form?

From The Daily Beast

No historian, biographer, or myth-maker such as Carl Sandberg has ever written about his sensuality.

From The Daily Beast

We can feel her sensuality and willfulness in the first daguerreotype we have of Mary, taken in 1846, when she was twenty-seven.

From The Daily Beast

This maternal sensuality, she adds, is in no way an attempt to sexualize her children or herself.

From The Daily Beast

Baudelaire had, in the matter of perfumes, a strangely subtle sensuality which is rarely to be met with except amongst Orientals.

From Project Gutenberg

In the intervals of his serious labors Napoleon gave way to a life of sensuality, and the women were prodigal of their charms.

From Project Gutenberg

I no longer habitually cherish physical sloth and luxury, which excite to excessive sensuality.

From Project Gutenberg

In some of the faces that passed him he saw only a careless sensuality brightened by the flush of excitement.

From Project Gutenberg

He never lost the veneration of his countrymen,--and no veneration can last for a man steeped in sensuality.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• eroticism
• sexuality